Combined mop head and wringer.



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THE NORRIS HENRY 0. THOMAS, or HARRISBURG, NEBRASKA.

COMBINED MOP HEAD AND WRINGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 2, 1907.

Application filed April 11, 1904. Serial No. 202,576.

To all whom it pea/y concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY O. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Harrisburg, in the county of Banner and State of Nebraska, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Combined Mop Head and Wringer, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompany- .ing drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention is an improvement in tools designed for use, wet or dry, for dusting and wiping and also for mopping and having features adapting them for both uses, including uses for wringing when used wet.

It consists in the features of construction set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partly sectional front elevation, section being made axially through the barrel, beveled pinion,

and gear. Fig. 2 is a section at the line 2 2 on Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 3 3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail section at the line 4 4 on Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is apartly sectional side elevation, section being made transversely with respect to the forward or lower end of the wiping-cloth and the crossbar of the structure, the remainder being shown in elevation.

In the device shown in the foregoing drawings the handle A has secured to the end a fitting which comprises an axially-apertured barrel B, having formed at one side of it a spring-chamber C, and telescoping within the barrel B there is a sleeve D, which at the forward or lower end protrudes from the barrel B, its protruding portion consisting of two lugs D D, said protruding portion being cut away between the lugs for a distance equal to the diameter of its axial aperture d. At the upper or rear end the sleeve D has a lug D which overhangs and is adapted to travel within the cavity of the spring-chamber C, in which there is lodged a coil-spring E, stopped at the forward or lower end of the springchamber and reacting upward against the lug D and in position to be compressed for reaction by any movement of the sleeve D for drawing or thrusting it outward or downward in the barrel B.

F is the stretcher-rod for the mop-cloth. It is preferably made of round iron rod and is bent or folded at its forward end to form a cross-bar F in the form of a loop, which affords means for securing the mop-cloth, as hereinafter explained. At the rear or upper end the stretcher F has a laterally-turned finger or lug F and both the sleeve D and the barrel B are longitudinally slotted, said slots appearing at d and b, respectively, to afford a longitudinal path for the finger F of the stretcher to permit the latter to be thrust back through the sleeve and barrel.

The handle A is secured to the fitting in a socket G, formed. laterally on the barrel B, and preferably lightened by being cut away at the upper part back of the bearing hereinafter mentioned for the gear-pinion, leaving only an encompassing strap G at that part. The handle is preferably of wood and is cut away at the lower or forward end at the side opposite the barrel B, the socket G being correspondingly reduced to a segment to accommodate at the outer side the pinion and the bearing hereinafter described. (See Fig. 1.) The handle is longitudinally slotted at a in line with the slots (1 and b of the sleeve and barrel D and B, respectively, said slot a constituting a continuation of the path provided for the finger F of the stretcher. and permitting the stretcher thus to be thrust back in the handle to permit the collapse of the mop-cloth. On the end of the barrel B, below or forward of the end of the spring-chamber C and handle-socket G, there is journaled a beveled gear H, which is retained on said journal-bearing by a nut J, lodged thereon after the gear is in place against a shoulder j and secured by upsetting the end of the barrel B. On the side of the handle-socket G a stud-bearing G is formed for a beveled pinion K, which meshes with the beveled gear H and is provided with a crank-handle L for rotating it. The beveled gear H has at diametrically opposite positions the loops or eyes H H, holding the mop-cloth, which is secured to said loops or eyes, as hereinafter described. Said loops or'eyes project, as seen in Fig. 1, beyond the plane of rotation of the crank-handle L, and in order that the rotation of the gear for wringing the mop, as hereinafter described, may be performed without collision of the crank-handle with the lugs the diameter of the pinion K is proportioned to that of the gear H, so that the handle L in its rotation shall pass the path of rotation of the lugs H only when the lugs are passing through portions of said path out of the plane of rotation of said handle. This is most simply accomplished by making the pinion one-halfthe diameter of the gear.

The mop or wiping-cloth M is preferably made in the form of an endless web, which is l folded at the middleabout the cross-bar F, l the two loops thus formed extending up along opposite sides of the stretcher and reaching or capable of being stretched to the loops 1-1 on the gear H, and for securing them thereto I provide the clip N, conveniently made of wire folded upon itself and havmg the ends hooked at N, the loop being also folded back to form a hook Each prong of this forked device being inserted through one of the loops of the web, and pass thus one upon each side of the stretcher, the hooked ends N are engaged with one of "the loops H and the hook is engaged with the other, the clip being slightly sprung to effect this engagement, and thereby caused to remain securely engaged during the use of the device. For securing the double fold of the mop-cloth about the crossbar F the most convenient and effective means is a cord Q, engaged with the cross-bar at the ends of the loop of the wire which forms said cross-bar and wrapped and tied about the cloth.

In operation it will be seen that when the stretcher is fully protruded it can swing about the finger F as a pivot out upon either side between the lugs D D, but that in swinging thus aside from its directly-protruding position it will collide laterally with the margin of the barrel B and fulcrum thereon and that in such lateral-swinging movement the finger F will be drawn outward, drawing with it the sleeve D, which in withdrawing will compress the spring in the barrel C, and when the stretcher passes a position at right angles to the handle its fulcrum will become the outer edge of the nut J, and about this fulcrum it may swing back to a position making an acute angle with the handle, the limit of its movement in this direction being the position of the gear H, the length of the hub of the gear protruding forward from its web determining the distance forward of the plane of the gear at which the washer-nut J stands to operate as such fulcrum, determines the extent to which the mop may be folded back of a rightangle position, and in all this lateral deflection it will be observed that the spring E, being put under tension, operates by reaction to retract the stretcher to its directly-protruding position. The advantage of this elastic tendency to recover its directly-protruding position is that the mop is at all times held with some pressure at the forward end or toe on the floor when it is thus used. When it is de sired to avoid the folding, the stretcher may be pushed back a little way into the barrel, and then the lateral pressure which might otherwise fold it will merely cause it to bind and be held firmly by reason of the distance between the fmger F and the point of lateral bearing of the stretcher-rod on the edge of the sleeve D between the lugs.

It will be noticed that the finger F not only operates as a pivot for the stretcher in the lateral deflection of the latter,.but also operates to prevent the rotation of the stretcher when the wringing device is being operated, and also by reason of protruding both through the slot at in the sleeve D and also through the slot 1) in the barrel B into the slot a in the handle holds the two elements D and B relatively non-rotatable. It is true that this last result is also caused or would be caused independently of the en gagement of the finger W, as described, by

r the engagement of the lug D in the springbarrel but if a different means were employed to obtain the pressure of the spring the engagement of the finger F as described, would alone serve the purpose of preventing relative rotation of the parts B and D.

It will be obvious that the location of the handle A aside from the axis of the stretcher and its sleeve D, so that the stretcher passes up alongside the handle when retracted and engages the lateral groove therein for prevention of rotation, is not an essential, though it may be a desirable feature, and any other location of the handle, provided any part of it were in position to be engaged by the finger F would permit the employment of substantially the same general features of construction in other respects.

I claim- 1. A mop or wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting secured thereto; a gear journaled on said terminal fitting having rigid loops or eyes for securing one end of the mop cloth, a stretcher held non-rotatably by the handle and extended therefrom beyond the gear, and having at its remote end means for holding the other end of the mop-cloth, and means mounted on the fitting for rotating the gear.

2. A mop or wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting thereon; a' sleeve in said terminal fitting movable longitudinally therein; a spring for yieldingly resisting such movement outward and for retracting the sleeve; means on said fitting for holding one end of the wiping-cloth a stretcher having one end extending within the sleeve and pivotally connected thereto at a point back of the end of the fitting when the sleeve is retracted to the limit of the action of the spring, said stretcher having at the remote end means for holding the other end of the wiping-cloth.

3. A mop or wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting thereon; rotatable means thereon for holding one end of the wiping cloth; a stretcher telescoping therein, having at its remote end means for holding the other end of the cloth; and having at its end connected with the fitting a transversely-projecting lug or finger, the fitting being slotted for the engagement of said lug orfinger therewith, the handle being secured to the fitting at the side thereof at which said slot is formed in the fitting, and having a slot registering with the slot in the fitting and extending up beyond the fitting for engaging the transverse fnger of the stretcher to guide it into engagement with the slot of the fitting from a position to which it may be moved up beyond the same.

4. A mop or Wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting thereon; a gear journaled on the fitting; a pinion mounted on the fitting and engaging the gear for rotation, the fitting being open from end to end; a stretcher telescoping through the same; the gear having means for holding one end of the wiping-cloth and the stretcher having at its forward end means for holding the other end of the cloth, and cooperating means on the stretcher and fitting for holding the stretcher nonrotata ble.

5. A mop or Wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting thereon; a sleeve telescoping in the fitting, said fitting having a springchamber laterally communicating with the cavity of the fitting in which the sleeve telescopes, a spring lodged in such chamber; said sleeve having a lug or finger projecting into the chamber to engage the spring for tensioning the same when the sleeve is moved forward in the fitting; means on the fitting for holding one end of the wiping-cloth; a

stretcher telescoping through the sleeve and having means for pivotally engaging the latter at the forward limit of its telescoping movement at a position within the fitting when the sleeve is retracted by the spring.

6. A mop or wiper comprising a handle; a terminal fitting thereon; a gear journaled on said fitting having laterally-projecting lugs for holding one end of the wiping-cloth a stretcher extending forward from the fitting having means at its forward end for holding the other end of the cloth; a pinion journaled on the side of the fitting for engagement with the gear in a plane transverse to the plane of rotation of the gear; a crank-handle on said pinion for rotating the same, the diameter of the pinion to that of the gear being as one to two, the pinion being meshed with the gear relatively to the handles position so that the handle extends past the gear at a point intermediate between the lugs at one side whereby it'arrives at the same position at the other side and clears the lugs at every rotation.

In testimony whereofI have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 9th day of November,

HENRY O. THOMAS. In presence of CHAS. S. BURTON, FRED. G. FISCHER. 

